Quote:
Originally Posted by Stubby79
I'm of the opinion that solar panels are a losing battle...unless you have a good acre of land and plenty of sunshine to set them up on. The startup costs aren't worth it. Not when you're paying 10c a kw/hr anyway. How many recharge cycles at $2/full charge is it going to take to pay off the panels?
If your local electricity is more expensive or less environmentally friendly, then there might be reason to. Or if you're hard core in to going off grid...
|
I realize that. But I was thinking of a portable solar charger and the pride of taking my Leaf over mountain passes that no one else would ever think of taking a Leaf. Even 1.5kW might save me from calling a tow truck.
Comparing prices with a portable generator, there's not that much difference except the solar panels only work if there's sun and the portable generator only works if there's fuel. A 5,000W Honda genset costs about $5,000. But so would a lightweight 5,000W solar array. A 5,000W solar array could be made lighter than a 5,000kW Honda genset. But it wouldn't be as compact.